Actor Bill Roache is on trial not his Coronation Street character Ken Barlow, court hears

The 81-year-old is accused of two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl and five
indecent assaults involving four other girls aged between 11 or 12 and 16

By News agencies

1:07PM GMT 14 Jan 2014

Coronation Street actor Bill Roache is on trial for sex offences and not his fictional character Ken Barlow, a court has heard.

Mr Justice Holroyde QC said it was important to distinguish between the ''real person'' and the part he has played on the ITV show for more than half a century.

The 81-year-old is accused of two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl in East Lancashire in 1967 and five indecent assaults involving four other girls aged between 11 or 12 and 16, allegedly committed in the Manchester area between 1965 and 1971.

Wearing a blue suit, Roache arrived at Preston Crown Court ahead of the hearing, together with his sons Linus and James and a security guard.

He was greeted with a large media presence outside the courthouse.

Inside the packed courtroom, Roache's family sat on the front row of seats in the public gallery, along with 30 members of the press, court artists and members of the public.

Roache formally surrendered to bail and entered the dock as the hearing started.

Before the trial began, a panel of potential jurors was brought into court and given a warning before any was selected to sit on the jury.

Mr Justice Holroyde said: ''You may feel in one sense you know the defendant, Mr Roache. He is well known as an actor who for many years has played the part of Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.

''But of course this is not the fictional character of Ken Barlow in court. It is a real person, William Roache, who is on trial.

''You must separate the fictional character from the real person, you will have to decide verdicts from the evidence you will hear from a real person, about a real person.

''So you must put out of your mind any views you might or might not have, favourable or unfavourable, of the fictional character Ken Barlow.

''However, if for any reason any of you feel that you will find it impossible to make a fair and independent judgment on the evidence, uninfluenced by your views about the TV character, then you must say so.''

The trial is expected to last for up to four weeks. Roache denies all charges.

Among the witnesses for the defence to be called during the trial are Coronation Street actors Anne Kirkbride, Chris Gascoyne and Helen Worth, jurors were told.

The trio play the characters Deirdre Barlow, Peter Barlow and Gail McIntyre.